After her first win over Navjot Kaur in the Pro Wrestling League Season 4 on Friday, Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik is looking to silence her critics through her performances in every competition she takes features in from here onwards.

"The last few bouts where I had to face defeat were very close affairs. Every time, it was just a matter of few seconds here and there. If I could have managed to hold on for a few seconds longer, the end results could have been different," Sakshi told IANS.

Competing in her first Asian Games in Jakarta last year, Sakshi lost her bronze medal bout to South Korea's Hang Jungwon. At the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, she was expected to do much better than the bronze she won there.

PWL has played a big role in the growth of Sakshi's career and the Olympian is determined to prove a point in the tournament this season as well.

"From Season 1 onwards, PWL has given me the opportunity to wrestle against top foreign wrestlers and that has helped me a lot in all major events in my career. Earlier, we got to fight with foreign wrestlers only when we went abroad but since PWL has happened we have not only got opportunities to wrestle with them but also train with them," she said.

"I lost to world champion Oksana Herhel of Ukraine twice that season, but I learnt a lot from those defeats which stood me in good stead during the Rio Olympics."

While talking about her bout against Geeta Phogat in Season 1, Sakshi said that she was highly inexperience compared to Geeta. But, she was determined to turn the tables on her in the PWL after going down to Geeta in the World Championships trials before that.

"Geeta is a medallist at the World Championships and though I was inexperienced, I was determined to defeat her. It took a lot of effort but I am glad I was successful in the end," said Sakshi and added that her experience of wrestling against players like Geeta and Oksana have helped her tremendously in improving her game.

Talking about her chances at the Tokyo Olympics next year, Sakshi said: "Winning another Olympic medal is my dream and I am completely focused on that. But before that, there is the world championships where I have to perform well to qualify for the Tokyo Games. I am really happy with my fitness and training at the moment and I am sure, I will be able to make my dream a reality in Tokyo next year."

Mexican international centre-back Carlos Salcedo has left Eintracht Frankfurt to join Tigres UANL, the Liga MX club said.

The move is a homecoming of sorts for the 25-year-old who spent time at Tigres' youth academy before his 2013 move to Real Salt Lake City, with whom he made his professional debut, reports Xinhua news agency.

"This Sunday he (Salcedo) will arrive in Monterrey to undergo a medical and sign a contract," Tigres said in a social media post.

Salcedo, who has been capped 25 times for Mexico, made just 23 Bundesliga starts for Eintracht Frankfurt after joining the club from Fiorentina in June 2017.

Tigres did not reveal the length of the contract or details of the transfer fee.

Manchester United interim coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said Marcus Rashford can emulate the efforts of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo at the club.

"Definitely, he can be absolutely top class," ESPNFC quoted the Norwegian as saying.

"He is only 21 but the maturity he is showing at times is more than 21 and his work rate. The more you score the more you believe you are going to score and everyone says when you don't score 'he is bound to score soon.'

"The more you score the more chance you have of being confident, running into the same positions. The way he works during the week is fantastic because he practices a lot. It is a pleasure working with him," he added.

In the game against Brighton, Rashford, 21, made his 150th appearance in the 2-1 win, reaching the mark at a younger age than both Rooney and Ronaldo.

Club's senior player Ashley Young believes the England international is getting better by working with Solskjaer.

"It's not a bad person to learn off, is it?" said Young of the former United striker who took over from Jose Mourinho after the latter was sacked.

"I think he's learning each day and obviously the manager will guide him in the way he does. Marcus just wants to learn.

"I've said it from the time he broke into the team and even before then, he can be an unbelievable talent, he's got the world ahead of him.

"He wants to learn as well, which is a good thing to see in a youngster now. He's on a great scoring run right now and I hope it continues for him."

Rashford has found the back of the net five times in Solskjaer's seven games in charge so far. He marked his 150th club game with a fine goal against Brighton, finding the top corner from an acute angle.

In form United, who have won their last seven fixtures, take on bitter foes Arsenal in the FA Cup on Friday.

"We'll work on what we need to this week, prepare in the right way and I'm sure if we can play the way we've been showing and even add to what we've done, I'm sure we'll go down there and do well," Young said.

Premier League defending champion Manchester City rolled to a 3-0 win over last-place Huddersfield, continuing to chase leader Liverpool.

Brazilian full back Danilo got the Citizens on the scoreboard 18 minutes into the game on Sunday night, when he fired a shot that was deflected by German center back Christopher Schindler past Danish goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, reports Efe news.

After the intermission, German midfielder Leroy Sane stole the limelight, assisting on City's second goal and then scoring to make it 3-0.

In the 54th minute, Sane sent a precise cross into the area and attacking midfielder Raheem Sterling made the most of it, allowing the former Schalke player to collect his 23rd assist since the beginning of the last campaign, the most assists over this time.

Sane moved five assists clear off second-place Sterling, which played 18 decisive passes throughout the same period.

Just two minutes later, Argentine forward Sergio Aguero set up Sane for City's third goal.

After the win, City has 56 points, good for the second spot in the Premier League standings but four points back of Liverpool, which earned a hard-fought 4-3 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Having slowly emerged from shadow of star wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, two-time World Championships medallist Bajarang Punia has now set his sights on the biggest prize in the world of sports and is confident on finishing on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Currently the top ranked wrestler in the world in the 65 kilogram weight category, the 24-year-old from Jhajjar (Haryana), has had a terrific season last year, winning five international medals which included gold medals at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Jakarta Asian Games and a silver in the World Championships.

Interestingly in Budapest, Bajrang became the only Indian grappler to be seeded in a World Championship.

During a chat on the side lines of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4, Bajrang expressed his desire to win an Olympics medal for the country and emulate his idol Yogeshwar Dutt.

"Given my performance in the last season and my current form and training, I can confidently say that my preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Games are very much on the right track," Bajrang told IANS.

He also said that currently his immediate focus is on the world championships which is also an Olympic qualifying event.

"The 2019 World Championship is the biggest and the most challenging event before the Tokyo Games. It is also an Olympic qualifier, so the whole focus at this moment is on the World event which is scheduled to be held in Kazakhastan," the wrestler who is representing defending champions NCR Punjab Royals in the PWL this season, said.

"The Asian Championships is the next big even this year, apart from these two, there are few other friendly and practice events which my coaches have drawn for me," he added.

He has expressed his appreciation for the PWL on several occasions as it has given him and other Indian wrestlers immense benefit in terms of training, learning and competing against world champions and Olympic medallists.

"The PWL has given all Indian wrestlers great exposure and that too at home. Getting to play world and Olympic champions at our own backyard in an event like this is a great feeling. Not many wrestlers worldwide can boast of such an experience," Bajrang said.

The Haryana grappler who has been highly impressed with young Indian wrestlers Pinki and Ravi Kumar after their upset wins over established names, said he has leant a lot by committing mistakes against top international stars in the PWL.

"We are training with these champion wrestlers, we all are learning a lot from these bouts, from the mistakes that we are committing here, and I am sure when we face these wrestlers on the world stage, we will be well prepared," Bajrang said.

"There are quite a few players who have shown promise this season but I am really impressed with Pinki and Ravi. Pinki rallied to beat the 2017 world champion Vanesa and Ravi got the better of the seasoned Sandeep Tomar with a very dominating performance. These are good signs for Indian wrestling and many thanks to PWL I should say," the Asian Games gold medallist added.

Former Argentine international centre-back Jonatan Maidana has joined Mexico's Deportivo Toluca after parting ways with Copa Libertadores champions River Plate.

The 33-year-old arrived in Mexico on Sunday after agreeing to a two-year deal with the Liga MX outfit, reports Xinhua news agency.

"I'm very grateful to Toluca for bringing me here," the defender told reporters. "Now I have to change the chip and adapt as quickly as I can to the team. The Mexican league is very competitive and this is a great club with a very strong squad."

Maidana joins compatriots Federico Mancuello and Emmanuel Gigliotti as well as Colombian Felipe Pardo as Toluca's new signings for 2019.

Capped five times for Argentina's national team, Maidana has won the Copa Liberadores twice: with Boca Juniors in 2007 and River Plate in 2018.

What started as the first big night for Ousmane Dembele with Barcelona turned into another shining exhibition by Leo Messi, who was only half hour in the game but time enough for him to power the team to a 3-1 win over Leganes.

Messi watched the first 66 minutes of the game from the bench on Sunday night, a disappointment for many fans.

But everything changed when Messi took to the field, where until then Ousmane Dembele had been the team leader and who kicked off the scoring at minute 32 by finishing off a pass from Jordi Alba, reports Efe news.

Dembele's eighth goal in La Liga above all served for the Frenchman to regain faith in himself.

Leganes was still in the game, however, and at minute 57, Braithwaite controlled a pass from En-Nesyri and put a shot from the penalty box into the net: the match was all tied up at 1-1.

The tie changed Barca coach Valverde's ideas, so that seven minutes later he decided to put Messi and Rakitic in to replace Aleña and Arthur.

But there were more complications: Dembele, who had been Barca's top player until then, left the game with an injury at minute 66.

Five minutes later, with Messi now in the game, Barcelona struck again. He booted the ball, Cuellar blocked it and Luis Suarez took over to make the score 2-1 at minute 71.

And it was Messi who finally won the game, working with Jordi Alba to slam the ball into the net at minute 92.